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I well remember as a young teen reading Harold Schonberg's 'The Great Pianists' and being utterly fascinated by the chapter on Alkan. Clearly this was something to look into, and I grabbed the Jack Gibbons recording of the Op. 39 Etudes (it was fairly new then) in a music store and somehow persuaded my mum to buy it for me.

It was life changing. I devoured it, and for daze on end I listened to the Concerto in the morning before school and then again in the evening.

I went on to collect other Alkan recordings (Lewenthal, Ogdon, etc), and have since never lost my love for this very unique composer.